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TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Erik Jones of Byron is trying to be realistic about his goals next week in Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 18 car.

"If we can go run top 15, I'd feel like that would be a pretty big win for us," he said.

No kidding.

Jones will make his official Sprint Cup Series debut at Kansas Speedway -- he was a mid-race substitute for Denny Hamlin at Bristol Motor Speedway, but that didn't count for stats -- which means the 18-year-old from Byron, Mich., is being thrown into the fire somewhat.

The ride belongs to Kyle Busch, but he's been out all season after being injured in a February crash at Daytona International Speedway, in which he broke his leg and foot. The team's expectation is to have Jones in the car until Busch returns (David Ragan has been driving the 18 but will switch to Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 55 next week for the remainder of the season).

Of course, that means there have been immediate comparisons between Jones and Joey Logano. JGR put Logano into a Cup car for the first time at age 18, and it ultimately hurt Logano's development. He had to move to Team Penske before fully blossoming as a driver.

But Jones noted there are differences between the two situations; namely, Jones isn't taking over on a full-time basis. He'll be out of the car whenever Busch returns. There's no timetable for when that might be.

"I feel pretty comfortable with that," Jones said. "You have to make the jump at some point in your career. Whether it's now or a year down the road or two years down the road, I'd have to do it.

"I feel like this is probably the best situation I could be in to make that jump in a part-time situation like it is. As long as I can keep my mentality that I'm just here to learn and make laps then I feel like it's not going to hurt my development in any sort of way."

The last few years have been a whirlwind for Jones. He got noticed by Busch after beating the NASCAR star at the Snowball Derby Late Model race in 2012, then was hired to race for the Kyle Busch Motorsports team.

When Busch was injured, it accelerated the opportunities for Jones.

"It's an awesome opportunity that I never would have dreamed of to get to do at such a young age," Jones said. "I'm definitely going to take it in stride and see what we can do."